Monday 17 November 2014

October: Tassie Travels


After finishing my time at Circ's'Cool I took a couple of weeks to go and explore Tasmania. Everyone raves about how beautiful it is and now I can too! There really are some magical places.

I started off in Hobart, staying with the cousin and family of a friend – despite the tenuous link ;) I was overwhelmed by the hospitality of my hosts who made my stay incredibly special and fun. Hobart is a beautiful city, with the sparkling waterfront and Mount Wellington overlooking the city.


It is home to MONA, the much reputed Museum of Old and New Art, owned by an eccentric millionaire who once bought a wooden door in Ghana because he had too much cash on him to otherwise leave the country. Brilliant.

From Hobart I joined a tour down to Port Arthur (where the convicts were!), which took us down the Tasman peninsula, home to some stunning sections of coastline. We stopped at a Tassie Devils park on the way because I couldn't leave Tassie without seeing one! Plus the obligatory kangaroo pat :)





Following on from Hobart I went to Freycinet National Park where I was once again spoilt by my hosts – the owners of Freycinet Marine Farm where I had my fill of fresh oysters and mussels! Turns out they're pretty tasty with a dash of lemon and pepper. I then spent a couple of days exploring the park: the amazing Wineglass Bay, Hazards and view from Mt Amos.



 



And my reward afterwards at Freycinet Lodge. Perfect.


Before leaving Tassie I headed back up north in order to visit Cradle Mountain. Not the best day for a view weather-wise, but worth the cold and wet to wake up to a foot of perfect crisp white snow the next day! 




Anyone would think that might mean it was too cold for canyoning....but it didn't deter the ginger ninja Ryan who expertly led myself, Gayl and Ben down Machinery Creek - an incredible course of six waterfalls and river beds that we had to navigate through and abseil down - amazing!

Overall an incredible couple of months in Tassie, with some fabulous adventures and great friends made along the way :) I was, however, excited to get back to the sunshine and summer of Sydney...



October: Tribute to SURCAS


Whilst officially 'away' in Tasmania I snuck back to Sydney for my birthday weekend mid October to see friends, go to trapeze – and see DUSK, the Sydney University Circus show. I have been going to SURCAS (Sydney University Recreational Circus Arts Society) practices since June and want to pay tribute to yet another fabulous bunch of circus folk I have met here in Sydney. We meet in the unlikely place of the University rock climbing gym and rig up what we can in the middle of the room, usually a couple of silks and a trapeze.

It's been great to learn a few more tricks on silks – and I have to in particular thank Joe and Odette who taught me enough to convince some students of mine at Suzie Q's Pole Studio that I was an adept silks performer when I covered a lesson there!

I was originally going to be in DUSK with my fellow silks girls, Rose and Odette, and had lots of fun training and practicing with them and coming up with ideas. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to stay in Sydney for rehearsals because of the opportunity I was offered in Tasmania, but here are some pics of the act when it was originally conceived of as a trio not duo!





The girls did a fab job on the night – as did all the other SURCAS folk. I'm so glad I got to see it. Bravo! :)